E6: The Game Inside D&D

[Ry]

Isn't the point of E6 that the "high end" goes away? 6th level is very high and then you are epic from 7-10th level.

Certain other monsters are redefined; sometimes you do want an undead wizard.

For example, for a Lich:

I'd start with a Sorc 6 or Wizard 6, give it the Bone Creature template from BoVD, and load it up with feats. Tons of feats. Feats that the heroes will never forget. The lich has had a long time to develop his powers; the prereqs for the Sudden Metamagic feats are quite worth it to him. I'd also load it up with minions, as suggested.

 

[Sqwonk]

Do you use point buy or roll stats?

I would think that beginning stats become much more important in E6 over standard 3.5 D&D.

 

[Ry]

I allow a 32 point buy, see the chart with LA races.

 

[joela]

Legacy

Certain other monsters are redefined; sometimes you do want an undead wizard.

For example, for a Lich:

I'd start with a Sorc 6 or Wizard 6, give it the Bone Creature template from BoVD, and load it up with feats. Tons of feats. Feats that the heroes will never forget. The lich has had a long time to develop his powers; the prereqs for the Sudden Metamagic feats are quite worth it to him. I'd also load it up with minions, as suggested.

Yeah. Possibly arm it with a legacy weapon from Weapons of Legacy. Course, the weapon would only(?!?) have up to 6th level powers, but if you combine it with legacy feats...

 

[Dragonblade275]

Ryan,

In E6, have you tried allowing certain feats on a case by case basis that E6 characters couldn't normally qualify for? For example, Greater Weapon Focus and Greater Weapon Specialization from the 3.5 Player's Handbook don't seem to me like they would break E6. Would you allow them and just change the fighter level requirement to 6th level fighter? If so, this would really reward the focused fighter that spent all 6 levels in only fighter.

 

[Ry]

There's two answers. If I was playing with a strict guideline of "You can't get abilities you couldn't get at 6th" then no.

But in reality my personal guidelines are somewhat looser. It's hard to think of a case where those feats break E6, but I do think they're very strong feats - for a 6th-level fighter, is there a feat that's more worth taking than those? I'm not sure. The test of "are any other feats worth taking if this is in the mix?" still applies.

So either "no" or "my player would have to really bug me for it and I'd take a hard look"

 

[Dragonblade275]

OK. Thanks, Ryan. That's the answer I was looking for. I think keeping the rule on the stricter side avoids error... Erring on the side of caution, so-to-speak, is a little better.

Thanks for stating that the bone template was in the BOVD in an earlier post. I couldn't remember where I'd seen it at. I'm going to look at it and see what a sample E6 lich might look like.

 

[Ry]

If you've got a player who's playing a fighter, show them Complete Warrior, or recommend they pick up the same. There's enough feats there to keep any hardened warrior happy for ages.

 

[Ry]

One thing that E6 is a bit weak on is the opening pitch. I'm thinking of adding these paragraphs before the FAQ:

How E6 works

E6 is a game where heroes rise against evil, face terrible dangers, and battle against mighty monsters. Like D&D, E6 is a game of enigmatic wizards, canny rogues, and mighty warriors. But instead of using D&D’s 20 levels to translate the characters in that world into the rules, E6 uses only the first 6 levels. E6 is about changing one of D&D’s essential assumptions, and it changes the world from the ground up.

What is an E6 world like?

An E6 world looks very much like a traditional fantasy world, like we see in Lord of the Rings or the Dragonlance fantasy novels. The difference is how that world is expressed in the rules. The average person in this world is a 1st-level commoner – imagine, from their perspective, the abilities of a 6th-level Wizard or 6th-level Fighter. The wizard could kill everyone in your village with a few words (provided you standed relatively close together. The fighter could stand up to ten armed men and kill every one of them. When you see a manticore, you, and your whole village must run, and you can only hope to find men of such power and skill that might be able to defeat them. 6th level characters are mortal – but they are epic heroes, nonetheless.

 

[Dragonblade275]

Thank you for the suggestion. I have the Complete Warrior, so I'll take another look to see what would be available to a 6th level character. I'm looking through the Prestige Classes in the DMG right now to see what a character might be able to qualify for at 6th level that could be converted into feats.